Can their love survive the difference in their circumstances? Song Hawkins is a beautiful, tough, but lonely New York City businesswoman who thinks she's met the man of her dreams in Cable Jordan, the superintendent of a West Virginia coal mine. But soon after they impulsively marry, Song realizes they're in big trouble. She can't imagine life outside of New York, and Cable has no intention of leaving his beloved town of Highcoal. Song's visit to the little mining community only makes things worse. It looks like the marriage is over. But in a shocking turn of events, Song realizes it's up to her to put on the red helmet of the new coal miner and descend into the deep darkness. There she faces her greatest challenge with choices and courage that will forever impact the life of Cable and the entire town. Sweet and thoughtful contemporary read Stand-alone novel Book length: 86,000 words Includes discussion questions for book clubs

She was born to kill, born to die.

Crescent is a crowhopper--a genetically modified mercenary programmed for ruthless warfare. When she's taken prisoner by Crater Trueblood instead of being killed in battle, she thinks it's a disaster.

Crater is weary of war. He's a miner, not a soldier. He'd rather be mining Helium-3 than battling the infernal crowhoppers. But after he captures Crescent and brings her to Moontown, he's surprised how much he enjoys her company. When she's falsely accused of murder, he becomes an outlaw to help her escape.

The unlikely pair escapes into the "big suck" and wind up trekking with a caravan of mining pioneers toward a lunar ghost town called Endless Dust. To survive, they must do more than navigate the beautiful, desolate moonscape and battle a persistent band of crowhoppers sent to capture or kill them. They must decide what--and who--is truly worth fighting for.

"Expertly blending space opera and hard sci-fi, romance, and even mystery . . . this is fast-paced, packed with intriguing ideas . . ." --Peter Gutierrez, "Booklist" Review

"Classic Golden Age science fiction high-adventure. It brought back memories of reading Asimov . . . that same sense of wonder. I absolutely loved it." --Michael Scott, "New York Times" Best-selling Author, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series

The true story, originally published as Rocket Boys, that inspired the Universal Pictures film.

It was 1957, the year Sputnik raced across the Appalachian sky, and the small town of Coalwood, West Virginia, was slowly dying.

Faced with an uncertain future, Homer Hickam nurtured a dream: to send rockets into outer space. The introspective son of the mine’s superintendent and a mother determined to get him out of Coalwood forever, Homer fell in with a group of misfits who learned not only how to turn scraps of metal into sophisticated rockets but how to sustain their hope in a town that swallowed its men alive.

As the boys began to light up the tarry skies with their flaming projectiles and dreams of glory, Coalwood, and the Hickams, would never be the same.

A sixteen-year-old must battle his way across a thousand miles of deadly lunar terrain and face genetically altered super warriors in his quest to recover an astonishing object that will alter the lives of everyone on the moon . . . and beyond. It's the 22nd Century. A tough, pioneering people mine the moon produce energy for a desperate, war-torn Earth. Sixteen-year-old Crater Trueblood loves his job as a Helium-3 miner. But when he saves a fellow miner, his life changes forever. Impressed by his heroism, the owner of the mine orders Crater to undertake a dangerous mission. Crater doesn't think he can do it, but he has no choice. He must go. With the help of Maria, the mine owner's frustrating but gorgeous granddaughter, and his gillie-a sometimes insubordinate clump of slime mold cells-Crater must fight both human and subhuman enemies to complete his mission. New York Times bestselling author Homer Hickman (Rocket Boys) will take you on a hold-your-breath adventure across the moon, and you'll never look at the night sky the same way again. The first installment of the Helium-3 series Book #1: Crater Book #2: Crescent Book #3: Crater Trueblood and the Lunar Rescue Company Book length: 75,000 words Includes discussion questions for book clubs

A kidnapped lunar heiress. A deranged-science syndicate. An imminent asteroid impact. Crater Trueblood has more to rescue than just his ex-girlfriend . . . namely the entire human race.

Maria Medaris is the 21-year-old matriarch of the most powerful family on the moon. She is gorgeous, she is powerful, and she is high maintenance. But when Maria is kidnapped by purple-faced, gene-splicing scientists in league with her father, her only hope is the very man she once spurned: Crater Trueblood.

Much more than Maria is at stake: the planet Earth, majestically rising over the lunar horizon, is in the crosshairs of an asteroid engineered by Maria's abductors. If Crater can't stop it, then Earth faces a dinosaur-style collision. And humanity faces an extinction-level event.

Along with Crescent, his fiercely loyal, bioengineered she-warrior, Crater and the Lunar Rescue Company must come to Maria's rescue--before she joins forces with the brainiac lunatics who have taken her hostage . . . and who want to make her queen.

Can Maria finally look beyond her own selfish love of power? Can Crescent overcome her jealous attachment to Crater? Can Crater rescue his former fiancee and divert the apocalyptic asteroid in a single day?

The fate of two worlds hangs in the balance . . . and the clock is ticking.

From Homer Hickam, the author of the #1 bestselling Rocket Boys adapted into the beloved film October Sky, comes this astonishing memoir of high adventure, war, love, NASA, and his struggle for literary success. Homer Hickam's memoir Rocket Boys and the movie adaptation October Sky have become one of the most popular stories in the world, inspiring millions to pursue a better life. But what happened to Homer after he was a West Virginia rocket boy? In his latest memoir, Homer recounts his life in college where he built the world's biggest, baddest game cannon, fought through some of the worst battles in Vietnam, became a scuba instructor, discovered sunken U-boats, wrote the definitive account of a World War II naval battle, befriended Tom Clancy, made a desperate attempt to save the passengers of a sunken river boat, trained the first Japanese astronauts, taught David Letterman to scuba dive, helped to fix the Hubble Space Telescope, wrote his number one bestselling Rocket Boys, and was on set during the making of October Sky. Although told with humor and wit, Hickam does not shy away from the pain and hardship endured and the mistakes he made during the tumultuous decades since his life in the town he made famous-Coalwood, West Virginia.

'Must-read... A funny yet tragic tale of a husband and wife's car journey across the US with Albert the alligator in tow. Yes, really.' Marie Claire A journey of a thousand miles. With an alligator on the back seat. And John Steinbeck as a passenger. This is a tale where everything is true,except the bits that are made up. In 1930s America, the Great Depression made everyone's horizons smaller, and Elsie Lavender found herself back where she began, in the coalfields of West Virginia. She had just one memento of her halcyon days - a baby alligator named Albert. Then one day, her husband's stoical patience snapped and Elsie had to choose between Homer and Albert. She decided that there was only one thing to do: they would carry Albert home to Florida. And so began their odyssey - a journey like no other, where Elsie, Homer and Albert encountered everything from movie stars and revolutionaries to Ernest Hemingway and hurricanes in their struggle to find love, redemption, and a place to call home. From the bestselling author of Rocket Boys-the basis of the movie October Sky-comes a long-awaited prequel. Big Fish meets The Notebook in this novel about a man, a woman, and their alligator.

Previously published in paperback as October Sky. Three years in the life of Homer ‘Sonny’ Hickam, from the moment he sees the Sputnik satellite overhead in West Virginia to his successful launch of a prizewinning rocket. In 1957, Coalwood, West Virginia, was a town the post-war boom never quite reached, and dominated by the black steel towers of the mine. For fourteen-year-old Homer ‘Sonny’ Hickam there are only two routes in life: a college football scholarship, or a life underground. But from the moment the town turns out to watch the world’s first space satellite, Sputnik, as it passes overhead, Sonny and his friends embark on a mission of their own – to form the Big Creek Missile Agency, and build a rocket. Looking back after a distinguished career as a NASA engineer, Homer Hickam tells the warm, vivid story of youth and ambition that inspired the 1999 film October Sky. It is the tale of a group of teenage boys who dared to imagine a life beyond the confines of the coal pit, and went on to design, build and launch the rockets that would change their lives, and their town, forever.

From the #1 bestselling author of October Sky comes this rich, unforgettable tale. With the same dazzling storytelling that distinguished his first memoir, Homer Hickam takes us deeper into the soul of his West Virginia hometown at a moment when its unique way of life is buffeted by forces of time and change.

It is fall 1959. Homer “Sonny” Hickam and his fellow Rocket Boys are in their senior year at Big Creek High, and the town of Coalwood finds itself at a painful crossroads.

The strains can be felt within the Hickam home, where Homer Sr. struggles to save the mine, and his wife, Elsie, is feeling increasingly isolated from both her family and the townspeople. Sonny, despite a blossoming relationship with a local girl, finds his own mood darkened by an unexplainable sadness.

Then, with the holidays approaching, trouble at the mine and the arrival of a beautiful young outsider bring unexpected changes in both the Hickam family and the town of Coalwood ... as this luminous memoir moves toward its poignant conclusion.

Since the publication of the #1 best-seller Rocket Boys: A Memoir in 1998 and the premiere of the movie October Sky in 1999, many Homer Hickam readers and fans have wondered how and why he wrote the book, and how the movie was made. Incidental to that are such questions as "What is Jake Gyllenhaal/Chis Cooper/Laura Dern, etc. really like?" and "What's it like to have a movie made about your life?" and "Why are the book and movie different?" and "Why are both book and movie still so popular after all these years?" The answers to those questions and a lot more are in Homer Hickam's new Kindle Single "From Rocket Boys to October Sky." If you think you know the story of the book and the movie, you don't Hickam says "Writing Rocket Boys wasn't easy. In fact, I got a million dollars of psychotherapy I didn't even know I needed " The making of October Sky wasn't easy, either. "From Rocket Boys to October Sky" gives lots of behind-the-scenes stories both on-set and off. Before the first frame of film was exposed, Hickam was involved with the writing of the screenplay and his comment when he saw the first draft -"I'm going to have to go up to West Virginia and apologize to everyone in the state "-gives an idea of how that went. Be with Homer Hickam as he struggles with the complexities of how a major Hollywood motion picture is made, and how he disagreed with aspects of the film even while he admired the dedication and professionalism of the men and women making it. Readers will also be alongside the director, producers, actors, and crew as they create one of the most beloved movies ever. The book has lots of photos taken on the various sets, too

The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir that inspired the film October Sky, Rocket Boys is a uniquely American memoir--a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the dawn of the 1960s, of a mother's love and a father's fears, of a group of young men who dreamed of launching rockets into outer space . . . and who made those dreams come true.

With the grace of a natural storyteller, NASA engineer Homer Hickam paints a warm, vivid portrait of the harsh West Virginia mining town of his youth, evoking a time of innocence and promise, when anything was possible, even in a company town that swallowed its men alive. A story of romance and loss, of growing up and getting out, Homer Hickam's lush, lyrical memoir is a chronicle of triumph--at once exquisitely written and marvelously entertaining.

Now with 8 pages of photographs.

A number-one New York Times bestseller in mass market, brought to the screen in the acclaimed film October Sky, Homer Hickam's memoir, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, comes to trade paperback with an all-new photo insert.

One of the most beloved bestsellers in recent years, ROCKET BOYS is a uniquely American memoir. A powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the end of the 1950s, it is the story of a mother's love and a father's fears, of growing up and getting out. With the grace of a natural storyteller, Homer Hickam looks back after a distinguished NASA career to tell his own true story of growing up in a dying coal town and of how, against the odds, he made his dreams of launching rockets into outer space come true.

A story of romance and loss and a keen portrait of life at an extraordinary point in American history, ROCKET BOYS is a chronicle of triumph. -->

As the United States and the Soviet Union went from exploring space to living in it, a space station was conceived as the logical successor to the Apollo moon program. But between conception and execution stood the vastness of space itself, to say nothing of the monumental technological challenges. Homesteading Space, by two of Skylab’s own astronauts and a NASA journalist, tells the dramatic story of America’s first space station from beginning to fiery end.   Homesteading Space is much more than a story of technological and scientific success; it is also an absorbing, sometimes humorous, often inspiring account of the determined, hardworking individuals who shepherded the program through a near-disastrous launch, a heroic rescue, an exhausting study of Comet Kohoutek, and the lab's ultimate descent into the Indian Ocean. Featuring the unpublished in-flight diary of astronaut Alan Bean, the book is replete with the personal recollections and experiences of the Skylab crew and those who worked with them in training, during the mission, and in bringing them safely home.   Purchase the audio edition.

Homer Hickam won the praise of critics and the devotion of readers with his first two memoirs set in the hardscrabble mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. The New York Times crowned his first book, the #1 national bestseller October Sky, “an eloquent evocation ... a thoroughly charming memoir.” And People called The Coalwood Way, Hickam’s follow-up to October Sky, “a heartwarmer ... truly beautiful and haunting.”

Now Homer Hickam continues his extraordinary story with Sky of Stone, dazzling us with exquisite storytelling as he takes us back to that remarkable small town we first came to know and love in October Sky.

In the summer of ‘61, Homer “Sonny” Hickam, a year of college behind him, was dreaming of sandy beaches and rocket ships. But before Sonny could reach the seaside fixer-upper where his mother was spending the summer, a telephone call sends him back to the place he thought he had escaped, the gritty coal-mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. There, Sonny’s father, the mine’s superintendent, has been accused of negligence in a man’s death — and the townspeople are in conflict over the future of the town.

Sonny’s mother, Elsie, has commanded her son to spend the summer in Coalwood to support his father. But within hours, Sonny realizes two things: His father, always cool and distant with his second son, doesn’t want him there ... and his parents’ marriage has begun to unravel. For Sonny, so begins a summer of discovery — of love, betrayal, and most of all, of a brooding mystery that threatens to destroy his father and his town.

Cut off from his college funds by his father, Sonny finds himself doing the unimaginable: taking a job as a “track-laying man,” the toughest in the mine. Moving out to live among the miners, Sonny is soon dazzled by a beautiful older woman who wants to be the mine’s first female engineer.

And as the days of summer grow shorter, Sonny finds himself changing in surprising ways, taking the first real steps toward adulthood. But it’s a journey he can make only by peering into the mysterious heart of Coalwood itself, and most of all, by unraveling the story of a man’s death and a father’s secret.

In Sky of Stone, Homer Hickam looks down the corridors of his past with love, humor, and forgiveness, brilliantly evoking a close-knit community where everyone knows everything about each other’s lives — except the things that matter most. Sky of Stone is a memoir that reads like a novel, mesmerizing us with rich language, narrative drive, and sheer storytelling genius.


From the Hardcover edition.

Una historia emocionalmente evocadora acerca de un hombre, una mujer y un caiman es un emotivo tributo al amor, del autor best seller del New York Times de las galardonadas memorias Rocket Boys: la base de la pelicula Cielo de Octubre. Elsie Lavender y Homer Hickam (el padre del autor) eran companeros de clase en la secundaria en los campos de carbon de West Virginia, graduandose justo cuando comenzaba la Gran depresion. Cuando Homer pidio le propuso matrimonio, Elsie partio para Orlando donde congenio con un actor bailarin llamado Buddy Ebsen (si, ese Buddy Ebsen). Pero cuando Buddy se mudo para Nueva York, los suenos de Elsie de una vida con el se hicieron trizas, y eventualmente regreso a los campos de carbon, y se caso con Homer. Insatisfecha como esposa de un minero, Elsie recordaba sus despreocupados dias con Buddy cada dia debido a su inusual regalo de boda: un caiman llamado Albert al que crio en el unico bano que habia en la casa. Cuando Albert asusto a Homer al agarrarle los pantalones, le dio a Elsie un ultimatum: "!Yo o ese caiman!". Despues de pensarlo un poco, Elsie llego a la conclusion de que habia una sola cosa que hacer: llevar a Albert a casa. Este es el relato divertido, dulce y a veces tragico de una joven pareja y un caiman especial en una loca aventura de mil millas de distancia. Contado con la calidez y el sencillo encanto que hizo de Rocket Boys un querido best seller, el divertido relato de Homer Hickam es el mejor testamento a esa extrana y maravillosa emocion que de modo inadecuado llamamos amor.

Homer Hickam, author of the memoir Rocket Boys (made into the movie October Sky), recalls his first years as a NASA engineer while also telling the story of his fluffy black and white cat Paco who had the magic ability to make people smile and give them hope. But when Paco was struck down by a disease that left him unable to walk, Hickam was faced with a terrible decision, let his beloved cat live in misery or put him to sleep. Before that decision could be made, the space mission Hickam was working on needed to be rescued and there was only one sure way to save it: Paco's magic meow This is a true story of the space age that is also a delightful tale of the love between an engineer and his cat. "Homer Hickam is a national treasure. America's most beloved Rocket Boy tells the touching story of a space-crazy man and his cat. Paco will delight pet-lovers and wanna-be astronauts alike." - Dr. Marty Becker "America's Veterinarian" on Good Morning America, Dr. Oz Show. Author of 20 books on pets. To watch folks at NASA do their thing during a mission, you'd think they were all "steely-eyed missile men (and women)." But if you've worked there, you know this is only part of the story. In this memoir, Homer gives you a slice of what it's like to join NASA and become part of the family - and how your real family (including 4 legged members) participate as a team. I know. My cat Biner also meowed in space. Read it (preferably) with a cat curled up on your lap. - Keith Cowing, author of New Moon Rising: The Making of America's New Space Vision and the Remaking of NASA. "They say in space that no one can hear you meow. But is that true? Homer Hickam's story about his time at NASA - and his cat - hits all the right notes. A little humor, a little history, a few tears, and a lot about yours truly A wonderful read." - Dr. Wernher von Braun (aka DrvonBraun on Twitter)

The shuttle is hijacked. Now the countdown to adventure begins....

In his #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, October Sky, real-life NASA engineer Homer Hickam captured the excitement of America's first space ventures. Now, in this no-holds-barred joyride of a thriller, he straps us into the cockpit of the space shuttle Columbia as a renegade rocket man hijacks the shuttle--and blasts off on a Mach-speed chase into space....

Jack Medaris is a man haunted by his past and driven by a dream: He's risking everything to "borrow" the Columbia--and pilot it to the moon. He didn't plan on an unexpected passenger, beautiful celebrity daredevil and scientist Penny High Eagle. To Penny, this hijacking will test every bit of her mettle as an adventurer--and as a woman. To Jack, the mission is a personal quest--to return to the moon and bring back what America left behind, something so explosive, it could change the future of the world. Now, as the U.S. government scrambles to the chase, and as deadly forces are deployed from earth to stop them, a man and a woman find their fates inextricably entwined. And in the savage emptiness of deep space, their only hope is to join forces to reach the lunar surface. Then comes the hard part. Getting home alive.